Keeping water supplies moving with a sustainable fleet

Vodafone Business Fleet Analytics telematics helps United Utilities to maximise business efficiency, protect employees and give customers a great experience. 

• Vodafone Business Fleet Analytics telematics helps United Utilities to move its 2,800-strong fleet to electric.

 

• This includes Green Fleet Dashboard data and reporting paired with the Electric Vehicle Suitability Assessment. 

 

• Vodafone is also supporting the UK water supplier to increase vehicle availability, cut maintenance costs and keep employees safe.

To keep water flowing for their customers around North West England, United Utilities relies on a vast operation.
 
It involves hundreds of reservoirs, treatment works, pumping stations, thousands of kilometres of water pipes and sewers, plus a 5,000 strong workforce. It needs to move these teams around the North West, using a wide range of fleet vehicles. They have more than 2,300 vans, cars and trucks, plus 500 specialist plant items.

As an essential community service, vehicles need to be safe to drive and on -the- road as much as possible, with drivers reaching customers on time and able to react to an urgent situation, such as a burst mains waterpipe.
 
As well as keeping customers satisfied, employees safe and business sustainable, United Utilities’ commitment to a 100% Green Fleet by 2028 is very important to the water services company.
 

How we helped them

Vodafone Business Fleet Analytics, powered by Geotab, offers real-time telematics vehicle performance data.
 
This helps United Utilities maintenance garages spot if there’s an issue with any of their vehicles ahead of time. The data is used to work with teams to cut idle times (time spent with the engine running but not travelling), to help reduce vehicle wear-and-tear, maintenance, fuel costs and carbon emissions.
 
It also issues driver behaviour reports that provide drivers with feedback on their driving, including harsh- braking, cornering, and speeding for use in improvement training and education programmes.
 
Better driving also has a positive impact on customer relationships. Stephen Wolstenholme, Head of Fleet, says: “There’s a reputational benefit here. Our vehicles are one of the most recognisable aspects of the brand. It’s important that they’re driven responsibly. It shows that we care about what we do.”

Going electric for a sustainable future

With vehicles replaced every seven years, the business started adding electric vehicles into its fleet to achieve its 2028 100% Green Fleet pledge.
 
Using data from the Green Fleet Dashboard paired with Electric Vehicle Suitability Assessment data, United Utilities were able to understand:

1. Which vehicles to switch to electric:

• Those driven by employees’ who were driving a pool van and living on a property with a driveway.

2. How to reduce their carbon emissions:

• By moving their employee’s vehicles from Internal Combustion Engines (ICEs) to electric vehicles (EVs).

3. How the change would impact their business infrastructure - they used telematics to understand:  

• Dwell times (when a vehicle is stationary at a scheduled stop) to decide how to manage charging infrastructure across their depots.
• Which employees could charge EVs at home and who would need support to do it on-site at work - so they knew where to install their fast and rapid chargers.

Our fleet analytics can help you too

Visit our business fleet website to learn more about how we can help your business.